Portable ballast bags



Nov. 7, 1967 A..P. MARINO 3,351,306

PORTABLE BALLAS T BAGS Filed June 2, 1966 FIG-3 FIGS INVENTOR. Anrhony P Marino BY W ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,351,306 PORTABLE BALLAST BAGS Anthony P. Merino, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignor to L. Marine Inc., a corporation of New York Filed June 2, 1%6, Ser. No. 554,783 9 Claims. (Cl. 244-93) This invention relates to portable ballast bags, and more particularly concerns ballast bags particularly useful for trimming aircraft, small boats and the like.

Aircraft have been trimmed by controlled loading of fuel, baggage and other cargo, and the like. Final adjustment is attained by the use of sand bags which are selectively located to obtain proper operating conditions. However, such known ballast means exhibit a number of disadvantages.

Thus, the canvas of which the bags are made, tears readily, particularly as an incident to the rough handling of such bags, which are frequently dropped from a height, engage obstructions and have a low abrasion resistance. Accordingly, known ballast bags are prone to leak their contents and the loose sand has a tendency to infiltrate mechanical equipment wtih consequent damage thereto and to provide an abrasive for baggage with inevitable claims for damage. The interiors of aircraft must be regularly swept but it is impossible to recover all sand released from the ballast bags.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an improved ballast bag construction which includes as a weight imparting element, an aggregate of particulate material and binder, whereby the bag is free of leakage of its contents, thereby eliminating the deleterious effects of loose, free flowing fine weight imparting materials.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved ballast bag construction in which the bag portion thereof is highly resistant to tearing and abrasion, whereby the filled bag is resistant to rough usage including falling from a height and dragging over surfaces of varying degrees of roughness.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved ballast bag comprising a novelcombination of bag materials and an aggregate filler wherein the aggregate exerts minimal bursting pressures on the bag when the same is dropped from a height, thus materially increasing the useful life of the bag.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a ballast bag of the character described, wherein the aggregate fill of the bag is of such a character that despite tearing of the bag wall, the aggregate is retained within the bag.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a ballast bag having an aggregate disposed within a bag which has a degree of plasticity such that the bag and its contents will substantially conform to the contours of the surface supporting the bag.

Yet a further object of this invention is to provide a ballast bag construction in which the bag portion is made of a selected combination of sheet materials and the content of the bag comprises essentially sand and a plasticized binder such as asphalt; the sheet materials and the sand aggregate coacting to maximize the resistance of the ballast bag to tearing and abrasion; the sheet materials further forming a barrier to the possible movement of the binder to the exterior surfaces of the bag portion.

Still a further object of this invention is to povide a ballast bag including inner and outer portions, the inner portion being formed of selected materials for retaining the aggregate content of the bag with a relatively high bursting pressure; the outer portion being formed of selected materials having high resistance to tearing and abra sion.

3,351,306 Patented Nov. 7, 1967 ice A further object of this invention is to provide an improved ballast bag construction which lends itself to economical fabrication, utilizing materials of minimal cost; the bags having a markedly extended useful life as compared to bags of the prior art, thus achieving substantial savings in the ballasting of aircraft, boats and the like.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

In the drawing, FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portable ballast bag embodying the invention, with parts broken away and parts in section;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the inner bag portion of the ballast bag;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4--4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the material forming the inner bag of the ballast bag; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 66 of FIG. 1.

Essentially, the ballast bags of the instant invention comprise flexible walled containers having sealed therein a coherent aggregate of granular material and binder; the aggregate being such that the bags will yieldably conform to the contours of any surface with which the bags are in contact. Further, the bags are formed of selected materials which retain the aggregate in a unique manner, and also provide high resistance to tearing and abrasion, thus maximizing the normal life of such bags despite the hard usage to which they are normally subjected.

Thus, as shown in the drawing, 10 designates a ballast bag construction embodying the invention. The same comprises a pair of rectangular shaped bags respectively indicated at 11, 12, which are in nested relation and carry sealed therein a heavy, coherent aggregate indicated at A.

The outer bag 11 is formed of synthetic resin having embedded therein a reinforcing open mesh or scrim fabric formed of high tensile strength nylon yarns or the like. The fabric may be 840 denier nylon weighing about 3.1 oz./sq. yd. which is laminated to facing sheets of vinyl copolymer resin which have a total weight of about 14.9 oz./sq. yd. Alternatively, the nylon fabric is impregnated and coated with the vinyl copolymer resin so as to locate the reinforcing fabric within the resin layer. The resultant fabric reinforced resin layer exhibits very high resistance to tearing abrasion.

The bag 11 is formed by folding a rectangular sheet of the nylon fabric impregnated with vinyl resin, along a line 13 to provide overlying, similar sheet portions 14, 15. The marginal side edge portions 16, 17 are seamed together by a stitch line 18 and said marginal portions are folded over on stitch line 18 and secured in place by a stitch line 19. v

The bag 11 is closed at one end by a single transverse stitch line 20 located immediately adjacent the end edges 21 of sheet portions 14, 15; and further, by a double stitch line 22 spaced inwardly from stitch line 20 to provide a transversely disposed sealed end zone 23.

The inner bag 12, which is adapted to be inserted into outer bag 11 by way of the open end thereof, is formed of a laminate 25, see FIG. 5, which comprises a heavy kraft paper layer 26 and a burlap fabric layer 27 secured together throughout their contacting surfaces by an asphalt adhesive 28. The burlap fabric may have a weight of about 7.5 oz. per sq. yd. The laminate 25 in rectangular sheets, is converted to bag form by folding the same along a line 29 to bring similar sheet portions 30, 31 into superposed relation; the burlap fabric layer 27 being outermost. The superposed sheet portions 30, 31 are stitched together at one end, as at 32; and along the open side edges as at 33, leaving the other end open.

Inner bag 12 is nested within outer bag 11; the bags being so dimensioned as to leave reasonable clearance between opposed edge portions of the bags; the open end of inner bag 12 projecting somewhat beyond the open end of the outer bag 11. The nested bags 11, 12 are now filled with aggregate A in a measured amount, say 50 pounds per bag. Such aggregate A is formed of coarse sand such as that conventionally used in making paving compositions, together with a suitable asphalt binder.

About 95% by weight of sand is mixed with about 5% by weight of asphalt, in conventional mixers at a temperature of about 100 to about 125 F. The blend of sand and asphalt while still warm, is fed in slugs of selected weight, say about 50 pounds each, to the open ends of inner bags 12 as they are nested in outer bags 11. The projecting open end of bags 12 are then sealed by turning over an end marginal portion 35 and stitching the same as at 36.

The thus sealed inner bag 12 is then pushed into outer bag 11, thus allowing the remaining open end of outer bag 11 to be sealed by transverse single stitch line 20A and double stitch lines 22A, leaving therebetween a sealed end zone 23A. Hand holds for bags are provided by simply slitting the end zones 23, 23A to form centrally located slits 37.

It has been found that the ballast bags of the instant invention show a life expectancy substantially greater than that of the conventional sand filled ballast bags; have higher resistance to tearing and abrasion; and even with cuts in the walls of the bags, the same may be subjected to hard usage for extended periods of time without loss of filling.

It is understood that portions of the course sand may be replaced by fine gravel or the like. Also, the asphalt binder may be increased up to about 10% by weight, the sand being reduced to about 90% by weight. It has been found that the laminate 25 of kraft paper and burlap forming the inner bag 12, provides an effective barrier to the transmission of asphalt binder from aggregate A to the exterior surface portions of ballast bag 10. However, a very small amount of methyl cellulose, of the order of about 0.05% by weight added to the sand-asphalt composition, will act as a gelling agent and further reduce possible migration of asphalt through the bag walls.

It is understood that the stitch lines in bags 11, 12 may be replaced by heat seals, inasmuch as the material of outer bag 11 is of a thermoplastic character. In the case of inner bag 12, thermoplastic adhesive strips may be used to heat seal opposed portions of laminate 25.

It has been found that with aggregate A of a volume somewhat less than the maximum volume of inner bag 12, so as to leave aggregate A in slightly loose relation to its container; and further, with bags 11, 12 arranged to have slight relative movement, ballast bags 10 show unusual resistance to wear and bursting, particularly when subjected to impact as when the bags are dropped from a height.

As various changes might be made in the disclosed invention without departing from the spirit thereof, it is understood that all matter herein shown or described, shall be deemed illustrative and not limiting except as set forth in the appended claims,

What is claimed is:

1. Portable ballast comprising flexible walled sealed container means and a body of material within said container means, said body of material comprising a major portion of heavy particulate material and a minor proportion of substantially flexible binder, all by weight; said binder bonding said particulate material to form a coherent aggregate, said container means having wall portions of high abrasion resistance and tearing strength, said wall portions including barrier means for resisting the passage therethrough of aggregate binder to the exterior of said container means, said aggregate being yieldable to allow said ballast to substantially conform to the contours of a surface with which said ballast is in contact.

2. Ballast as in claim 1 wherein said particulate material comprises sand and said binder comprises asphalt.

3. Ballast as in claim 2 wherein said sand comprises from about to about and said asphalt comprises i from about 10 to about 5%, all by weight, of said aggregate.

4. Ballast as in claim 1 wherein the wall portions of said container means comprises an inner portion and an outer portion, said inner portion comprising fabric reinforced paper material, said outer portion comprising high tensile strength fabric reinforced synthetic resin material.

5. Ballast as in claim 1 wherein said container means comprises an outer bag and an inner bag disposed within said outer bag, said outer bag having wall portions comprising high tensile strength open mesh fabric reinforced synthetic resin sheeting, said inner bag having wall portions comprising a layer of paper, a layer of fabric and an asphalt adhesive layer bonding said paper and fabric layers, the paper layer of said inner bag portion being in opposed relation to said aggregate.

6. Ballast as in claim 5 wherein said open mesh fabric is formed of woven nylon yarns, and the fabric layer of said inner bag is burlap.

7. Ballast as in claim 5 wherein said bags are of substantially rectangular shape, said outer bag being sealed at the opposite ends thereof by transverse substantially parallel lines of securement including one line of securement located immediately adjacent the opposite end edges of said outer bag and at least one line of securement spaced inwardly of each of said one lines of securement to provide transversely extending sealed areas between said first and second mentioned lines of securement.

-8. Ballast as in claim 7 wherein said first mentioned line of securement comprises asingle stitch line and said second mentioned line of securement comprises a pair of closely adjacent stitch lines.

9. Ballast as in claim 7 wherein the wall portions of said outer bag in said sealed areas is formed with a slit to provide hand hold means for said ballast.

References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,385,850 l0/ 1945 Spiegel 244-93 MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

ANDREW H. FARRELL, Examiner. 

1. PORTABLE BALLAST COMPRISING FLEXIBLE WALLED SEALED CONTAINER MEANS AND A BODY OF MATERIAL WITHIN SAID CONTAINER MEANS, SAID BODY OF MATERIAL COMPRISING A MAJOR PORTION OF HEAVY PARTICULATE MATERIAL AND A MINOR PROPORTION OF SUBSTANTIALLY FLEXIBLE BINDER, ALL BY WEIGHT SAID BINDER BONDING SAID PARTICULATE MATERIAL TO FORM A COHERANT AGGREGATE, SAID CONTAINER MEANS HAVING WALL PORTIONS OF HIGH ABRASION RESISTANCE AND TEARING STRENGTH, SAID WALL PORTION INCLUDING BARRIER MEANS FOR RESISTING THE PASSAGE THERETHROUGH OF AGGREGATE BINDER TO THE EXTERIOR OF SAID CONTAINER MEANS, SAID AGGREGATE BEING YIELDABLE TO ALLOW SAID BALLAST TO SUBSTANTILLY CONFORM TO THE CONTOURS OF A SURFACE WITH WHICH SAID BALLAST IS IN CONTACT. 